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Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Reuters

During last week’s Paris Fashion Week, the house of Chanel proved that it can elevate just about anything by chic-ifying the most plebeian place on earth: the grocery store. If you thought Whole Foods was nice, try shopping at Chanel Shopping Center. Models walked down grocery aisles instead of a catwalk at the Fall ’14 show, with spectators seated around the store. Not a detail was missed, down to the shopping carts and cashiers, promotional signs and sample tables. My personal favorite is the beautifully branded Chanel vodkas. French Elle has the best photos of the luxe products here.

In honor of this amazing Parisian spectacle, I’ve rounded up some of the chicest versions of your average groceries. Bon Appetit!

Monday, March 10, 2014

It’s hard to ignore the number of fashion brands that have launched activewear collections over the past few years—from Stella McCartney’s collaboration with adidas, and Alexander Wang making the chicest jumprope ever, to the infamous Chanel sneakers that graced the runway at the Spring 2014 Paris Fashion Week. It seems that designers can’t get enough of the fit world. ShopBop was one the first major fashion retailers to get on board the trend when they launched a line with SoulCycle in January, and now Bloomingdale’s has announced partnerships with both Barry’s Bootcamp and Flywheel.

Both collections will be available in select retail shops in New York, California, and Florida, and online at bloomingdales.com.

So is fitness feeding the fashion industry, or vice versa? It’s definitely a little bit of both. Boutique fitness studios collaborating with large retailers allows fitness brands to reach larger audiences. You may not live near SoulCycle, but you can still rock the spirit of the brand at your own local spin class or even on your home treadmill. And, ahem, no judgment if you wanna rock that Flywheel tee to bed either.

Fitness’s influence on fashion is palpable in less obvious ways too–runway trends like cutout and peek-a-boo dresses show off toned obliques and supple backs, while demure crop tops paired with matching skirts highlight washboard abs and whittled waists. Gone are the days of crepe dresses that hang listlessly over a tiny frame. Strong is the new skinny: the fashion world is finally catching up to the cardio party and we couldn’t be happier!

Monday, March 10, 2014

I first started making soups in college, during a semester in which my roommate and I had signed up for a CSA. We liked the idea of eating local–after all, Pennsylvania is full of farms, green open space and fertile soil. We also realized that it would save us a ton of money since we both subsisted on mostly vegetables and fruit anyway, which was costly at local grocery store (especially on our babysitting and waitressing budgets.) When our first box arrived, I think we were both a little overwhelmed. What do we do with a rutabaga? Can you really eat turnip greens? My roomie defaulted back to bagged lettuce while I figured out what we could do with our haul. Soup turned out to be the answer in the end. From then on, the majority of our CSA share went into a pot with some broth and we happily ate it all week long. So here’s my rule with soup: there are no rules, so don’t measure and just keep adding until it looks tastes good.

Monday, March 10, 2014

When I’m visiting my family and friends for holidays, it’s hard to get them to break out of their food comfort zone, so if I can find a healthy dish to sneak into the Thanksgiving buffet that won’t cause them to turn up their noses at first look, I can almost guarantee they’ll like it after they try it!

These three dishes have happily passed the lips of said picky eaters. Test them yourself and let me know how they go over!

These vegan and gluten free chewy trail mix cookies from Oh She Glows passed the test of my parents and a girlfriend with a super-simple palette. There are a ton of ingredients, and some are a little hard to find, but substitutions are easy to make as long as you stick to the base. I skipped the sesame seeds because they don’t do much for me and added extra chia seeds instead. Cacao nibs are amazing, but hard to find in my hometown, so I used more dark chocolate chips. This would also be really tasty with hemp hearts or carob chips. I think the key ingredient that makes these so irresistible is the coconut oil–it makes them moist on the inside and crispy on the outside.

Another ah-mazing find from Oh She Glows is this Roasted Buddha Bowl, made with roasted broccoli, cauliflower and chickpeas. I simplified the dressing by just using tahini, warm water, lemon juice, salt and pepper. This is a perfect side dish for chicken or fish, or serve over brown rice or quinoa for a vegan meal.

Who knew sweet potatoes could taste so sinfully delicious without butter, sugar or marshmallows. Salt. Pepper. Coconut oil. That’s it. Really. This recipe from Whole Foods is one to keep on hand through the chillier months.

Have any other recipes I should test on people with an aversion to healthy foods? Send ‘em my way!

Monday, January 20, 2014

I love nothing more than sinking my teeth into a thick, juicy, hand formed burger with a slice of good ol’ processed white American cheese–specifically one off my dad’s grill, eaten poolside (but I’ll also take SHAKE SHACK.) I devised these Sweet Potato Quinoa Burgers not to replace my carnivore cravings, but to provide an easy and delicious patty that would be a complete meal.

These burgers contain quinoa and beans for protein, sweet potato for complex carbs, and veggies for filling fiber. Make a big batch and wrap and freeze extra patties for quickie microwaved dinners later. For extra protein, top with a fried egg.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Their best-selling Sugar lip treatments have a devoted following, and I count myself among the people crazy enough to buy a $22.50 lip gloss. I’ve tested my fair share of lip sticks, glosses, polishes butters, and balms, but this always comes out on top! I’ve been using Sugar lip treatment in Rose and Original (a clear gloss) for a few years now; they are great neutral everyday sticks to throw in my purse, but the newest color to be added to the Sugar collection is reinvigorating my trust in and love for Sugar! In a bright Cherry red that’s dark enough for the season but still feels full of sunshine, Cherry rounds out the palette of Sugar colors–Honey, Petal, Passion, Coral, Berry, and Plum.

The lip treatment is really a tinted balm, so you’ll get a good dose of color, shine–but not too much, and lips drenched in moisture. If Cherry is not your shade, there are enough colors in the Sugar family now to suit any skin tone. And oh, it’s got SPF 15. Bonus!

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

It sounds crazy, but my nail salon is always full of men. I can’t quite figure it out; do I live in some futuristic bubble where guys have finally realized its OK to get their eyebrows waxed and nails buffed? I’m all for the grooming. But even better? The growth of traditional straight shaves and barbershops that cater to an elevated class of men.

I recently accompanied my boyfriend to this first straight shave at NYC’s Neighborhood Cut and Shave, a Greenwich Village staple for guys that come in looking scrappy and leave looking dapper. I was interested to see the culture of the shop from the inside and see how it compared to the culture of female haute hair boutiques like Dream Dry. Did they gossip? Discuss the merits of Malin + Goetz face moisturizer? Smoke cigars while someone trimmed their eyebrows? Fact: I saw a man get his eyebrows trimmed. I also saw a ‘manly man’ profusely thank his barber for being so accommodating to his specific hair requests. It was weird. At the same time, it was just like female-only hair spots. Only there was whiskey. (Jealous!)

Shops like Esquires of Wall Street and Truman’s have been polishing up the men of New York for years, but growing interest from younger generations in the old-fashioned grooming style has helped keep the shops open–and produce a market for new ones.

HARRY’s, a razor company started by one of the co-founder’s of hipster eyeglass company Warby Parker, (and developed in partial response to Millenials’ interest in pricey places like The Art of Shaving) opened Harry’s Corner Shop in late October 2013. Guys can stop in for a cut and shave, pick up HARRY’s products, or stock up on essentials like Hanes Tees and Public Supply notebooks.

The latest barbershop in town is going straight to wear men gravitate, with a trusted name to back it. GQ has partnered with Fellow Barber and Barclay’s Center (home of the Brooklyn Nets) to open a pop-up barbershop, officially open for business this Friday. The partnership is just another example of brand extensions going on in the magazine world, and shows that style and class are not going anywhere anytime soon, even if suits are a thing of the past.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

I haven’t read a creepy read in quite some time (ok, like middle school,) so I was skeptical about diving into the world of ghosts, creaky floorboards and missing keys again, but Help for the Haunted, the third novel out from John Searles, perfectly toed the line between ghost story and thriller. The pace of the book is pretty steady, so while I wasn’t eagerly rushing to get through it the way I do with most thrillers, I could find good stopping places and easily picked the book back up after a day or so. You may think you know where the plot is going, but I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the ending and the message that Help for the Haunted leaves.

The novel opens with a late night phone call that will alter the course of events in young Sylvie Mason’s life forever. The night ends in an act of violence, leaving Sylvie and her older sister orphaned and full of question. Who were their parents? What really happened that night? And how can they ever move forward and reclaim a normal life? Sylvie and her sister struggle to find meaning in their new world, but both deal with it in very different ways. Sylvie, inquisitive and hopeful, but still deeply distraught, looks to redefine “family,” while her sister rejects Sylvie and their family’s past. And does she know more about that night than she told the police? Sylvie sorts through what remains to uncover the answers and ultimately, her own memories of that night.

This supernatural thriller is an easy read and safe to pass on to your grandmother or pre-teen sister when you’re done (and that can’t be said about most books in this category!

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

I’m usually willing to take a bit out of any bar on the market, so when this power bar fell onto my desk, I was intrigued. Zombies seem to be having a moment now, (Insert The Walking Dead reference here), and vampires are phasing out, so why not develop a bar based on the zombie trend? The tagline for ZombieFoodBars, “Tastes Better than Brains,” wasn’t very appealing, and the whole idea of eating zombie food is just, well, weird, but the high fiber, high protein, nutrient packed bar claims to be an exceptional source of sustained energy. At 250 calories a bar, it’s a little more calorie dense than an afternoon snack should be, but the 14g of fat and 23g of carbs it provides are super fueling after an intense workout. It definitely has a power bar-y taste, but also tastes more homemade and less processed than a traditional power bar because it is packed with real ingredients like almond butter, dates, cashews, goji berries, cinnamon and cocoa. Those are all things I recognize and eat, yay! Zombies must be fans of some of the other ingredients like spirulina powder, barley grass juice powder, chlorella powder (possibly a supplement to their diet consisting mainly of human flesh?!) Hey, even zombies need their greens.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

In the 2004 documentary Super Size Me, independent filmmaker Morgan Spurlock ate solely McDonald’s for 30 days. Unsurprisingly, he gained almost 25lbs in the process, among a series of other medical problems. Although extreme, Spurlock reached his goal of raising awareness about obesity in America. The facts: restaurant and fast food portion sizes have grown in the last 20 years. And wait, what? We’re angry that those portions are making us fat, but annoyed when companies downsize products? I’m noticing a disconnect…

Here’s the top Greek yogurt brand’s old and new packaging:

The serving size has decreased by 12%, from 6 oz. to 5.3 oz. Executives say this will make Chobani yogurts more comparable to other similar yogurts on the market and being “more consistent.” But wait–the price stayed the same? Not. Cool. And the real questions is, who are they competing with? Yoplait’s Greek yogurt line and Dannon’s Oikos also contain 5.3 oz, but Fage, the original Greek yogurt, and the preferred pick of the most nutrition-concious consumers, actually packages single servings in 7 oz. cups. Fage for the win!

And why does Chobani feel so threatened in the market that they are supposedly dominating anyway? As The New Yorker’s Rebecca Mead points out, “Chobani’s rapid success has left the established yogurt companies trying to catch up.” And as Hamdi Ulukaya, founder of Chobani, told Mead, so far, Chobani has just taken consumers away from the other yogurt brands…and hasn’t made consumers increase increase their yogurt intake. Doesn’t seem like decreasing the size of their cups without changing the price will help much with that, huh?

What do you think about the downsizing? Are you Team Chobani or Team Fage? Tweet me at @SaraAngle22!

Side note: Holy shit–Peppermint Bark flavored yogurt?! Is this real!? Apparently, although the don’t sell it at my grocery store. Sounds like a delicious sugar bomb. But maybe freeze it and sub out for an even more calorie-laden winter dessert?